The appearance of a fire inside a building poses a major threat to the health and life of the occupants. Particularly dangerous is the smoke generated in such a situation, which contains a significant amount of toxic gases that can lead to poisoning or suffocation. It often significantly impedes evacuation operations, not only because of problems in passing through the areas where it is present, but also because of reduced visibility. A way to reduce the risk is to use a gravity smoke extraction system equipped with dampers smoke . Let's find out why it's essential and see how it works.
How do fire gases behave?
Substances released as a result of the combustion of the various materials that make up a building's equipment and structure tend to be very hot, and thus their density is generally lower than that of atmospheric air. They therefore tend to accumulate in the upper parts of rooms and move toward the upper floors. This is usually possible through stairwells that are also escape routes. Thus, in a short period of time, the upper floors become significantly smoky. In order to make it possible for the occupants to leave the building, as well as for the firefighting operation to begin, it will therefore be important to move all the smoke that is created outside. A simple yet effective solution will be to use gravity smoke extraction
How does gravity smoke extraction work?
A gravity smoke extraction system consists of several elements that work together to get rid of fire gases from inside a building. The key elements here are smoke dampers placed in the roof structure, allowing the gases to be led out of the roof slope. Smoke dampers and, in fact, the active smoke extraction area of smoke dampers is the most important part of the entire gravitational smoke extraction system. The stairwell smoke extraction system is controlled by electronic smoke extraction control panels. The triggering elements that transmit the signal to the smoke extraction control panels are smoke detectors and alarm buttons connected to the smoke extraction control panel by fire resistant cables. Each smoke extraction control panel has the ability to accept a signal from the Fire Alarm Control Panel, which means that the smoke extraction system can be one of the components of the entire building fire protection system.